Power makes history on Melbourne's turf

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It is good that the national game continues to respect some Victorian traditions.

There are many questions that can only be answered during the playing of a grand final. This year, one of the most important was whether Victorians would care about the result given that a local team had not qualified for the premiership. Thankfully, one of the rationales of the national competition - that an expanded league would lift the standard of play - was truly borne out in Saturday's game.

The contest was fought with conviction and occasional biffo and contained passages of brilliance. Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams paid respect to the Lions for their toughness and their marvellous run of three grand finals in a row, as well as his own pleasure in bringing that run to an end when he said: "They were as hard as hell to beat and it was as sweet as hell to beat 'em."

Where Brisbane wanted to make history by equalling Collingwood's four-in-a-row record of 1927-1930, Port Adelaide was seeking to prove that it had what it took to win in Melbourne on the last Saturday in September. The importance of that vindication for Williams and his players was hard to miss. The passionate Williams - who somehow managed not to destroy his telephone while delivering furious instructions during the game - ran on to the field at the end of the last quarter, pulled off his tie and mimed a choking movement, Port having proved at last that it was a choker no more.

The staging of the game on a balmy spring day also demonstrated the rightness of playing the grand final at the MCG in the afternoon. In moving to accommodate a national game and the demands of a television audience many football traditions have been jettisoned, but this one should not be: it would be a great shame to see the grand final played at an interstate venue or at night.

Melbourne rallied behind the visitors at Friday's grand final parade - another tradition that is still with us and which appears not to depend on local loyalties to survive. The Port and Brisbane fans who travelled to Victoria to attend the match were also supporting this city's football heritage and the (still gap-toothed) MCG as the game's pre-eminent venue.

But a clinging to tradition also disadvantaged Brisbane in the run-up to the premiership. Although the Lions had earned the right to play the preliminary final at home, MCG contracts forced them to play on a Saturday night in Melbourne before returning south again the following Thursday. The travelling cannot be said to have cost them the final, but it did place an unfair strain on the team.

But grand finals are largely about pressure and a club's ability to bear it. In each big game some players display a willingness to rise to the occasion, while others fall victim to their own sense of awe. This year both sides held their ground and the curse that can befall grand finals - wherein one team collapses and another romps home - could not take hold. Those Victorian fans who watched the game without strong feelings of allegiance, were grateful for the show.